People for People: A helping hand while Grandma gets better

She's one of those women who can leave the rest of us in a bit of awe.

Lisa Ramirez

She's one of those women who can leave the rest of us in a bit of awe.

Widowed young, she was left to take care of four children on her own, the littlest of them barely old enough to understand why daddy wasn't coming back.

Yet she kept her family together.

She had a good job, and her mom was always there to help, providing child care while she worked.

But when her mom got sick, the family's carefully balanced budget felt a huge strain.

The surgery would be in New York City, and the cost of driving back and forth to visit started to add up. That, and she suddenly had to hire a baby sitter.

Still, they managed for a while, able to get by while Grandma got better.

But there were complications, and the hospital stay was extended.

Her finances had already been stressed, and she didn't know how her budget would bear more pressure.

Her electric bill was her biggest worry — she was falling behind and she was worried that her power would be shut off.

The People for People Fund came to her rescue. Asking for help was not something she was accustomed to, but she had heard about the fund and its mission to help self-sufficient local folks. So she reached out to the volunteers.

The fund helped her with part of the electric bill, and, with the grandmother expected to be back on her feet soon, this working mom was confident that she'd be able to settle the rest of the balance.

With that — just that bit of help with a utility bill — this family was able to bring the grandmother home to a house full of everything she needed to get well: her family.